ETCC R3: Azerbaijan, Spain lead, Russian women dominate

11/6/2011 – After shocking England in the second round of the open section the Greece hosts succumb to higher rated Azerbaijan in the third round. Tournament favourites Russia were held to a draw by lower rated Netherlands, so plenty of fight remains in the open section with uncompromising play all around. The Russian women’s team continued its rampage. Round three report.

3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the
women’s teams. The time control is 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the
rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the
first move. The member countries of the European Chess Union (ECU) have the
right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition,
and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition.
There are 38 teams in the former and 28 in the latter. The games are being played
in the Olympic Hall Congress Center (1500 sq.m.), within the five-star Porto
Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in
Halkidiki, Greece.

Results of round two

Open section

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Women's section

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Results of round three

Open section

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Women's section

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Report after round three

Azerbaijan handed round two’s heroes Greece a 3-1 defeat on the top board
in round three, with Mamedyarov and Safarli posting decisive results against
Papaioannou and Nikolaidis. On board two, Spain demolished Romania with the
same result despite Alexei Shirov crumbling from the white side of an unpleasant
Caro Kann against Parligras.

Tournament favourites Russia were held to a draw by lower rated Netherlands
after Dutch grandmaster Jan Smeets had a lucky escape against Sergey Karjakin.
Playing black in a Slav Defence, Smeets made a careless queen exchange offer
on move 29, handing Karjakin a lasting advantage which he failed to convert
in the endgame despite having a menacing passed pawn on c6.

The other three games Svidler-Anish Giri, Van Wely-Grischuk and Stellwagen-Morozevich
were also drawn.

The Bulgaria-Poland match saw a spirited fight between Veselin Topalov and
Wojtaszek Radoslaw on the top board that lasted 88 moves. The players entered
a single rook and opposite coloured bishop endgame on move 45 and a long battle
for the initiative followed, ending in a well-deserved draw.

Cheparinov and Georgiev were held by Bartel and Macieja respectively and it
was Aleksander Delchev on board three who picked up the point for Bulgaria with
a spectacular tactical win involving two sacrifices over Miton.

Women's section

Here Russia left no room for doubt with a 4-0 sweep over Romania. Serbia put
up a stiff resistance to their stronger opponents Georgia but were overcome
2.5-1.5. GM Nana Dzagnidze saved the day for her team by beating Natasa Bojkovic
on board one, while her compatriots Lela Javakhishvili, Nino Khurtsidze and
Melia Salome were held by their opponents Chelushkina Irina, Stojanovic Andjelija
and Drljevic Ljilja.

See also

9/26/2017 – The final classical game. The finals has been relatively sedate with three draws until now. But it could all end today with one decisive game. Ding Liren has the black pieces today. It's going to be an exciting game. Games kick off at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EST) with live commentary from Tbilisi by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and live updates by our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

See also

7/5/2017 – This is neither prank nor clever wording: Garry Kasparov will be playing in the official St. Louis leg of the Grand Chess Tour from August 14-19, 2017. Please note that this is the Rapid and Blitz competition, just as the ones held in Paris and Levuen these last weeks, and not the classical events. However, this is not an exhibition event, and will determine the official Grand Chess Tour rankings as well as FIDE ratings of the players. Here is the press release.

Video

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